flown missionFailure

Rokot / Briz-KM | CRYOSAT

Eurockot Launch Services133/3 (133L) — Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Either the launch vehicle did not reach orbit, or the payload(s) failed to separate.

mission

Name
CRYOSAT
Type
Planetary Science
Target orbit
Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

CryoSat-1 was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia on October 8, 2005, using a Rockot launcher. (Rockot is a modified SS-19 rocket which was originally an ICBM designed to deliver nuclear weapons, but which Russia is now eliminating in accordance with the START treaties.) According to Mr. Yuri Bakhvalov, First Deputy Director General of the Khrunichev Space Centre, when the automatic command to switch off the second stage engine did not take effect, the second stage continued to operate until it ran out of fuel and as a consequence the planned separation of the third (Breeze-KM) stage of the rocket which carried the CryoSat satellite did not take place, and would thus have remained attached to the second stage. The upper rocket stages, together with the satellite, probably crashed in the Lincoln Sea. Analysis of the error revealed that it was caused by faults in the programming of the rocket, which had not been detected in simulations.

schedule

NET (no earlier than)
Window opens
Window closes
Last updated

vehicle & provider

Rocket
Rokot/Briz-KM
Family
Rokot
Variant
Briz-KM
Provider
Eurockot Launch Services
Type
Commercial
Country
FRA,RUS

launch site

Pad
133/3 (133L)
Location
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation
Country
RUS
Timezone
Europe/Moscow
Coordinates
62.8870, 40.8470